Onederful

Truett's first birthday extravaganza ended tonight with our family party. After supper we served him his "dog-dog" cake, which was met with shrieks of glee. He tore into it and repeatedly asked for more, more, more!As did his brother:Later we opened presents. He got toys, books and music.Honey & Ro-Daddy made Truett a growth-stick similar to the one they made Oliver for his first birthday.Uncle Matty came over to join in the celebration.Honey & Ro-Daddy made T some blocks that are also a U.S. map puzzle, a Texas map puzzle, as well as an "O" and "T" puzzles. So creative! Jordan and I put the U.S. map together but were missing one block in Texas. I'm sure it will turn up soon. T-Bird is such an animal lover that most everybody had the same idea: stuffed animals. He babbled wildly when he opened each one and carried them all over the place. He got three dogs, a bear, an orca and a bunny!What a wonderful first birthday celebration. Thank you, sweet family. Jammie & PawPaw deserve a special thanks for hosting us and for always being so gracious. What a wonderful weekend of celebrating our sweet one-year-old boy! He's decided he's a walker now and that makes him seem so much older than he did when we arrived just a few days ago.

Chrys

It Takes a Village...

...to make a 1st birthday cake. Wow! When our cake maker had to cancel a few days ago I told Jordan, "Oh, come on, we can do it!" I confidently told my mom that if she'd bake the cake and dig up all the decorating gear then I'd take over from there.

Well, it was a very sweet adventure and I ate way too much icing in the process. We made two sheet cakes and cut them into the shape of a Giant Schnauzer like the one T fell in love with at the dog parade. Then we decorated. (My mom took all of these pics so she's not in them but, believe me, I could not have done it without her. I had no idea what I was doing.)
I was afraid it would end up on Cake Wrecks but it actually turned out pretty well! I am pleased. We're serving it tomorrow night at Truett's "official" birthday party. We're going to tell him it's Maggie's white cousin.

We used my mom's family decorator icing recipe. I'm not a big icing fan but this is delicious:

1 box confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup Crisco
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup cake flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. butter extract

Chrys

Pupcakes

Truett's "real" birthday party isn't until Saturday but I have a thing about celebrating on the actual day. We arrived in Abilene this evening and celebrated with "pupcakes" that Aunt Jordan brought over for dessert.After we sang "Happy Birthday", Oliver didn't give T a chance to attempt to blow that lone candle. O swooped right in and did it for him, from quite a ways away. We all laughed.Truett wasn't sure what to think at first. He hesitantly tasted the icing and decided he liked it. But he wasn't so keen on the cake part. I'm one!
Oliver is a fan of the pupcake. Every last bit of it.
Chrys

Good Morning, Birthday Boy!

Dadoo, Oliver and I sang "Happy Birthday to True" when he awoke this morning. What a happy birthday boy he is. It appears that "Dog Dog" has found a wonderful new home.
Chrys

One Year Old!

Sweet T,Happy birthday, precious boy. You are such a joy to us. I can't believe you're ONE!
Your big, bright eyes and infectious smile are beautiful. You know you are funny and enjoy making us laugh.
You adore your big brother. We were at church yesterday for an event and you and O were downstairs in childcare. Your class was outside on the playground at the same time as Brother's and your teachers told us that you followed him everywhere he went. And kept up!
You are a very happy child. You get into everything and love to explore. Tearing books off the bookshelf is one of your favorite past times.
You are crazy about Dadoo and say his name about a hundred times a day. You shriek and wave your arms when you see him.
You give big hugs. I LOVE it. I don't remember Oliver ever hugging the way that you do. You understand the concept of wrapping both arms around someone's neck and squeeeeeezing. It's precious. You know you're cute.
I am shocked by how much you talk. We thought you wouldn't be as verbal since you started crawling so early. Since Oliver was so verbal and less mobile I guess we assumed those two were mutually exclusive. Not so! You talk and talk.
You say: Momma, Dadoo, Brother, Bubba, Ah-ver, PawPaw, bath, dog-dog, woof woof, eat, bottle, cheese, dis, dat, whas dat, whas dis, hi, uh-oh, hey, bye bye, ball, nighty, wow, whoah, oh, fan and my new favorite: "Hey you!" When I get you out of your crib I always smile and say, "Hey you!" So you've started saying it, too.
I'm still nursing you two or three times per day. You eat everything we eat and drink green juice and milk. Anyone who eats with us is shocked at how much you consume. It really is impressive, T.
You have two teeth on top and two on the bottom. There are a couple more that are ready to pop through just any time.
Pacifiers are limited to your crib but you've managed to sneak a few out recently. I think your little teeth are coming in and hurting you:
You want to be big and do everything your brother does.Oliver is potty training so we've let you try it out, too. I'm pretty impressed, T-Bird! You almost always use the potty when we sit you up there. I'm not going to push it but we'll see how it goes.You rarely ever sit still. You have yet to sit in my lap for the length of a book. You just have too many exciting things to do.
It's so fun to see your unique temperament. You are much less independent than Oliver and you tend to stay close to us. You are a love bug and often find us for a quick fix--a big hug and kiss and then you scamper off to play some more. It's adorable. We love it when you lay your head on our shoulders and tuck your little arms in under your belly.
You love all animals, especially dogs. You get so excited when you see a dog and you make your "click click" sound to call it. Adorable.
You sign "bird" whenever you see one then flap your arms in excitement.
You love to take baths and get pretty rowdy in the tub. You are fearless, which makes me very nervous when we're near water.
For your birthday you have decided that walking is your preferred method of transportation. You are walking everywhere now! You've been trying it out for several months now but have defaulted to your bear crawl most of the time. It's no wonder you're all muscle. I'm going to miss that little bear crawl, esp. the nekkid bear crawl.For the first several months of your life we wondered if you would ever sleep. But you're actually a pretty good little sleeper! We're so glad! You take a long morning nap and a pretty good afternoon nap. At night we put you in bed around 7:00 and you usually wake up around 8:00 a.m.
We can't imagine our lives without you, Truett. You are a blessing and a joy.
Thank you, Lord, for the past year we've had with this little boy. What a gift he is.

Momma

The Sentimental Mommy of an Almost-One-Year-Old

Oh, I'm a teary mess. I've been working feverishly on Truett's first birthday slide show and I haven't gone to bed before 2:00 a.m. the past two nights. So I'm sleep deprived, hormonal and sentimental. I wouldn't recommend this combination.

And the silly video isn't even finished. Stupid Moviemaker keeps crashing. I may get it completed tonight but I'm not holding my breath. I know you're not either. (I realize that close friends and family are the only ones likely to sit through a video of baby pics. And I understand.)

I remember being incredibly emotional as I worked on Oliver's one-year video. I was a lot worse, actually. His video starts with footage from his birth (one benefit of a c-section, I guess) and, to this day, I can't watch it without bawling. I'm so birth crazy. I love a birth story. Any birth story. It's just a miracle.

So tonight I'm obsessed with Truett's birth story.

I can't stop thinking, "This time last year...."

Yep. This time last year we were arriving at the hospital and I felt it necessary to convince everyone there that my labor was authentic. I was so afraid they were going to send me home b/c I simply couldn't believe my body could go into labor and actually have a baby without medical intervention. What a concept! (Yes, that's sarcasm.)

Little did I know we'd have a baby, a precious baby BOY, within a few grueling hours...just as the clock struck midnight. It was fast and furious. And worth it all. (Even worth all the medical attention that was required after my unmedicated VBAC. BTW, I recently heard of another woman who, like me, received an epidural after delivering her child.)

I just rocked my eleven-month-old to sleep as he held tightly to his new "dog dog" stuffed animal that we decided was perfect for our dog-loving boy. Oh, T-Bird, you will wake up a one-year-old. My heart is so full.

So thankful,
Chrys

More Birthday

Jordan arrived with my very favorite hot pepper steak from Ecko's! Nummmmmmy birthday supper! (Oliver ate rice with sweet and sour sauce.)Not only did she deliver my favorite food from Abilene, Jordant made a special birthday cake without milk or eggs (all soy ingredients) so that Oliver could enjoy it with us. Only an aunt would go to that much trouble. And it really was good. We were all a little skeptical but were pleasantly surprised! It even had soy cream cheese icing.My birthday present from our whole family: I get to pick out some patio furniture to put in our new and improved backyard! Then Jordan put the boys to bed while Mike and I enjoyed the mind-blowing season finale of LOST. (Do we really have to wait until January??)

What else tops that? Oh yeah, some orange cake from my mom. I got that, too. Thanks, Momma!

By the end of the day I felt like Truett in this pic: stuffed, happy, and ready for bed.
Thank you for all the birthday calls and emails. I feel loved.

Chrys

35.

It's been a great day so far! I was a little freaked about turning 35 b/c it sounds so old to me. Much older than 34 somehow. I mean, I remember when my mom was 35. I was 10. Weird.

Today I witnessed something I had never before seen. Let me back up a little and explain that Mike doesn't sing b/c he doesn't like his voice. I love to sing. I always give him a hard time about it and tell him that he's going to have to sing anyway to be a good influence on the kids b/c we want them to sing no matter how they sound.

Well this morning, my sweet husband sang. He not only sang, he sang a silly song he wrote for the occasion! He sat down at the piano and started a song he'd obviously programmed earlier. It started out like the normal Happy Birthday song but got jazzier. He kept having to stop and start over b/c he was laughing so hard. It was priceless. We all laughed until we cried. Oliver helped him sing a little and I wanted so much to video tape it but I knew it was out of the question.

He did, however, give me the words to post:

Click here for the music

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear Mommy,
Happy birthday to you.

It's a special day for you
And we so want that to be true
And you know Jordan's coming to town
So we'll have some big, big fun.

We love you for what you do
You love Oliver and Truey True
But you most of all love Dadoo
And I love you so much, too.

You take care of us, that's what I say
You teach the boys the alphabet from Z to A
Make them go to sleep and let them play
You love to do this every day.

Gettin' weeds with eggs to hatch and watch em turn to caterpillars
Is just one way that you make me love you more and more each day
('Cause it's a science thing.)
And, there's the way that you cook good food
Your best stuff is what you make from scratch and don't write down the recipe
So you can make it again
But that's okay 'cause you'll make something good next time, too.

Okay now I'm running out of words b/c songwriting's not easy at all.

So happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Chrys,
Happy birthday to you.

We've got some fun stuff planned
For your thirty-five year birthday
One last time I love you. Yeah!

So yeah, it was cute. Now Jordan is on her way to our house to celebrate and I can't wait to see her.

And last night our CG girls gave me a family membership to the Dallas Zoo and I'm stoked about that. I can't wait to take the boys!

And get this: My thoughtful husband must have contacted the LOST producers and requested that the special two-hour finale be aired on my birthday! How thoughtful is that!??

So it's a good day around here. Here's to 35! It can't get much better than this...

Chrys

P.S. These pics were taken in February and have been inaccessible on our defunct hard drive. Truett was so tiny!

Daddoo's Birthday Forecast: Fair

We celebrated Mike's birthday today at the State Fair of Texas.

I'm not a germaphobe by any measure. But the fair? It really freaks me out to think about how filthy everything is. I want to wash my hands and my kids' hands constantly.

And another problem with the fair? It's crazy expensive. You have to know me to fully understand how cheap frugal I am. I hate spending money, especially on silly stuff. Like $14 fair tickets. And rides at the fair. And fried fair food. (Fried Coke? And fried lattes? Seriously.) I'm baffled.

So I made a trip to the local $1.50 movie house and bought tickets for a movie we didn't see so that we could get free admission to the fair today. And some friends had extra coupons they didn't use so we had those to use. (Thanks, Sundee!) So I could relax and enjoy our day and not stress out about how expensive it was! That was a real treat.

We went straight to the K-9 Flight show where the dogs caught frisbees and long-jumped into a tank of water. The boys really liked it and Oliver cheered a bunch. After that we caught a puppet show, saw some exhibits and ate some lunch.

Then we walked to the Midway where Oliver immediately began talking about the "hot balloons" (the Texas Skyway gondolas) and the "big circle" - The Texas Star, the largest ferris wheel in North America.

Though he measured 35.5 inches at the pediatrician's office two days prior, Oliver was less than 34 inches according to Big Tex. I didn't argue w/ Tex b/c we didn't have to pay $6 for him to ride the ferris wheel.

It was a gorgeous, clear day. Look at downtown Big D!

We pointed out Baylor and told Oliver that's where he and Truett were born.

O decided the big circle was lots of fun.

The birthday boy and his boy

Oliver's favorite thing was the model train that ran around Big Tex's feet.

He didn't want to leave.

Oliver said he wants to trade in our minivan for this concept Airstream. I'm okay with it.

Then he got really excited about this YELLOW! CAR!

"Ooooh, yellow looks good on me."

The boys were spent after all day at the fair. In true, Truett fashion, the child did not sleep the entire time.

But his big brother was happy to make use of the baby's car seat in the stroller.

One lady stopped us and said that he looked like he was in a coccoon.

We had to wake him up for one last stop: the petting zoo. This was the nicest, cleanest (if that's possible) petting zoo I have ever seen.

I want to be a good parent but I do not know how to be responisble.

Oliver had to feed the animals imaginary food b/c his Mom & Dad were too cheap to buy him anything to feed to the poor, starving animals. He didn't seem to mind, though, as long as he got to poke at the animals with the shovels that were hanging from the pens. (Oops, sorry, am I being irresponisble?)

The daddy ostrich thought so after seeing Oliver poking a shovel at his baby ostriches.

And finally, the scene that made us (and everyone around us for that matter) laugh aloud...

Look O'Malley! Curly Top has returned to the flock!

We ate at Chili's on the way home, where an over-tired Truett screamed and cried. I don't know what made us think we could take him out anywhere when he hadn't napped all day. It was so stressful. We got some dirty looks and felt like we should offer to buy the dinners of everyone seated around us. I finally got him quieted down while Mike cut my salad into bites for me. True had some dressing in his hair, but I guess that's what he gets for screaming during Dad's birthday supper.

We got home and got the boys bathed and put to bed just in time to watch our favorite show. Overall, a fun, relatively inexpensive, germy day at the State Fair.

Happy birthday, Daddoo! We love you very much!

Chrys

The Celebration

Oliver's birthday celebration started at the Grace Children's Museum where O had a lot of fun exploring, driving an ambulance, touching a tornado, making a craft, and building with blocks.
After leaving the museum, we headed to Jammie & PawPaw's house for a hamburger supper, cake, cookies, and presents. Oliver specifically requested a blue rectangle cake with a space shuttle and stars on it. He wanted it to be "chocolate milk flavor" (not milk chocolate, mind you) so we did our best. Since NASA plates, napkins and party decorations were impossible to find, we went with his second choice: Lightning McQueen. (No, it didn't match. But he was thrilled about it.)

Give me star cookies! (Please!)

The blue, rectangle space-shuttle chocolate-milk-flavored birthday cake (don't forget the stars!)

Uncle Matty!

He's a big fan of the cake.

After having the blue icing removed from his blonde curls, Oliver opened tons of packages. This is one loved kiddo...
Uncle Matty met Baby Truett for the first time!

Mom & Daddoo with the birthday boy

We had a wonderful, special day celebrating our sweet boy.

Chrys

Happy Birthday, Oliver!